Bitcoin prices cratered on Tuesday morning after the digital exchange Mt. Gox went dark.
On CoinDesk — another trading platform — the price of a bitcoin was down 22 percent overnight to $423.00
Over the weekend Mark Karpeles, CEO of Mt. Gox, resigned from the Bitcoin Foundation over the weekend.
Japanese regulators — where Mt. Gox is located — said they were “not in a position to take action,” over the site’s shutdown, according to reports.
As to how much is at stake, media reports also alluded to a document circulating in the bitcoin world that said hackers had stolen 744,000 bitcoins, worth around $350 million at current prices, from Mt. Gox in a theft that had gone on for years. That theft which would represent about 6 percent of 12.4 million bitcoins in circulation.
The issues at Mt. Gox followed the surprise resignation of Gox executives from the Bitcoin Foundation, prompting the firm’s bitcoins to trade at a sharp discount to the currency’s rates at other bitcoin dealers.
The disappearance of the Mt. Gox site also came after chief executives of six other large bitcoin exchanges and businesses sought to assure customers that their funds were safe.
On The Coinbase Blog chief executives of the firms — Blockchain.info, exchanges Bitstamp, BTC China and Kraken, along with broker/payment processor Coinbase, and payment firm Circle Internet Financia — issued a statement touching on concerns of insolvency at Mt. Gox..
“This tragic violation of the trust of users of Mt. Gox was the result of one company’s actions and does not reflect the resilience or value of bitcoin and the digital currency industry,” said those executives, who added that they were certain the industry would continue to thrive provide d it’s led by “competent teams and backed by credible investors.”
On Redditt, a social news website, in a string entitled “Gox horror story thread — How much did you lose?” , the discussion ranged.
This article originally appeared on MarketWatch.com.